The Ark Of Porcelain Dolls

The Valkyrie took a deep breath before showing the group what dolls Fabian Brookes had made. Most group members found it creepy to have those dolls as toys for young girls, while the rest thought it was a work of art. But, to Mavislin's shock, Rina liked those dolls.

"They look pretty! But I don't think they're quite nice to hug with their bodies being hard-looking. Besides, why does the body looks so white and smooth? What material could have been used to make that?" asked the Butterfly Girl, peering closer to the picture.

"My hunch would be porcelain. From my recent hops to the future, I saw kids running about with these kinds of silky smooth dolls. However, they are only for the rich since it costs a lot of effort to carve out each doll's face and get the material," explained Raiyen.

"How do you make it?"

"The main essence of the material is to powder up a rock called granite and clay to mold and sculpt the dolls' features. But this makes me worry that our enemy might be a person who has access to the future if he can mass produce these toys so easily," answered Raiyen with worry.

"I wouldn't use 'mass-produce' with the case we've got here. These dolls on the marketplace are going for absurd prices, with that one with the blue dress and eyes with curly yellow locks priced at about 10 to 20 Gold Pieces," added Z.

Everyone's eyes widened as Z spat those words out. Mavislin looked mortified, thinking who would give copious amounts of money for such a horrific thing with a sound mind. If nightmares had faces, those dolls would be the mascot for it. Mavislin shuddered as Rina found her new hobby.

The Flower Mage glanced at the Valkyrie, hoping that her next task's pay would be enough to get those dolls. But Mavislin's glare said otherwise, and Rina pouted. But Z's sudden words halted the two girl's thoughts.

"High Queen... If a Baron like Fabian Brookes needed materials, does he need to get the materials within the Briton Domain, or can the guy outsource it?" asked the Galaxian Mage, anxiously and worriedly.

"What that Mage is asking is that can you get materials from another Domain to use to build something in the Briton Domain?" corrected Raiyen, figuring out that Ysabeau didn't understand future words very well.

"It is possible, but procuring things bigger than a normal amount for a small house would require permission from the Midford Family. After all, it's their kingdom. I may have the records about the materials coming in and out of the Domain, but I need to ask them for it," explained Ysabeau.

"Then for making of toys? Can they get the material from other Domains, or do they have to be self-sufficient?" asked Z, going through the incident files for the Briton Domain.

"They have to be self-sufficient if they want to remain unnoticed by the Midford Family or the Arks. But if the Baron were under some branch of the Five Kings, things would be different. Then, the materials won't need permission from the Family or us to come into the Domain."

"So long as the Five Kings are generating those materials, we deem it safe to be used by the masses. They may be the Five Kings of the Underworld, with the Mafia cowering in fear against them, but they still lay down the rules for all to follow," replied the High Queen.

"Why do you want to know about getting materials so much? We are trying to battle these few rogue Mages, not build a house with them," asked Baldwin, annoyed that this topic had been brought up.

"As Raiyen mentioned, those dolls' materials aren't from the Briton Domain. Hell, it's not even found in this part of the world yet! To get porcelain, you need to be on the other side of the world to have it! Thus, I'm afraid I have to disagree with Raiyen entirely. These 'dolls' are something else..."

As Z did something to the files and the live feed of the Map Crystal, the map of Briton exploded with red dots and hundreds of pop-ups. Z leaned back on the chair as beads of sweat dripped down the sides of his head. The Galaxian Mage then closed his eyes and clasped his hands.

"The incident reports we've been tackling are only based on the past few months' data. So I stretched out a few years on the data for Briton's missing report files, and this is how many children have gone missing," said Z, showing the group the total amount of missing people.

"Over... 250,000... And that's just for the children part! God knows how many adults go missing as well?!" yelled Mavislin, perturbed at seeing those numbers steadily increase.